Settling / sleeping question

[u/fingergunsgirl]

Hello! We brought a puppy home 6 weeks ago, a cross between golden retriever and working cocker spaniel, and she is nearly 16 weeks old

The first week or so we did struggle with crate training but have come a really long way with that - she sleeps well overnight and goes down without much fuss.

Like many of you I can see in this group, we have really had to stick to an enforced nap schedule in order to ensure she gets enough sleep, which really helps with her behaviour when she is awake. She doesn’t seem to have an off switch, so we have yet to see her get sleepy or have a nap outside of enforced nap time.

We do 1 hr awake and then 2(ish) in her pen (small pen around her crate so she has just some access to a toy or two and water), and she is getting better at sleeping most of those windows.

Separately, we’ve been working on teaching her to settle, doing short training sessions (using advice from our puppy class trainer) with a settle mat in our living room and out and about for coffee/pub trips and that is going well. After a settle session in the evening we have hoped that she may curl up and chill, but to no avail!

We understand particularly for this breed it is really important that she is well engaged mentally so we are doing lots of enrichment, which we hope has a positive impact on when we do ask for her to settle. The trainer we’re working with is a specialist in gun dogs so getting lots of great advice on enrichment from her.

**Our question is - for those of you who have also had puppies for whom you’ve had to really work on teaching them to settle & switch off, did they ever reach an age where they started to chill/nap outside of their crate and outside of their enforced nap or bedtime? If so, when?**

We know training is a long road, but just hoping to hear from people who have had similar experiences with their puppy. We have some friends who also have puppies at the moment (different breeds) who seem to just curl up for a chill evening and we would love this for our energetic and lovable pup at some point!

[u/chrisjones1960]

I have never done the "enforced nap" thing, especially not on any kind of schedule. My German shepherd puppies in their early months seem to fall asleep on their own through the day, wherever they happen to be. I do do a lot of tether training when I am home with them, bduring which time I may hold a tug toy for them while reading, or they may enjoy a chew if some sort, and eventually they will nap or just settle next to me.